EAST NORRITON ­­— Officials of Einstein Medical Center Montgomery (EMCM) have withdrawn a request for $726,498 from East Norriton township for the construction costs of sewer improvements and the widening of Germantown Pike.

The request, made at a June 25 Board of Supervisors' meeting, was based on a Dec. 23, 2008, resolution approving the preliminary site plans for the $350 million, 146-bed hospital. The resolution limited the amount of money EMCM would pay for the two projects.

The resolution stipulated that if the cost of sewer improvements exceeded $2.5 million, or the cost of roadway improvements exceeded $5.2 million, then the hospital would pay the additional costs of the construction to a maximum of $1,375,000.

“In actuality, the road improvements were $6,318,009,” said attorney Marcel Groen, representing EMCM, in a June 7 letter to township officials. “Sewer work was $3,484,488. The total moneys expended by Einstein was $9,802,498. A complete set of invoices for the work is attached to this letter. The total overage paid by Einstein pursuant to the agreement is $726,498.”

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The supervisors directed Township Manager Don Delamater, Solicitor Sean Kilkenny and the township traffic engineer, T&M Associates, to research the invoices at the June meeting.

In a Sept. 23 letter to the township from Richard Montalbano, the Einstein Healthcare Network project executive, the hospital withdrew its monetary request.

“Our engineers and contractors have had the opportunity to review all invoices associated with these improvements with township representatives,” Montalbano said in the letter. “The parties determined that our construction manager had inadvertently included the cost of the construction of the new water main, which was accomplished simultaneously with the road widening and sewer improvements, in their calculation of the final cost of the improvements. The township was to bear responsibility solely for road widening and sewer improvements and the water main costs should not have been included.”

Montalbano concluded, “EMCM is withdrawing its request for reimbursement for infrastructure improvements related to the construction of the hospital and this matter is financially closed from our perspective.”

Kilkenny described the hospital letter to the board Tuesday night.

Supervisor Donald Gracia said the costs for the water main extension was roughly $500,000.

“Then there were some other questions about the general contractor's mark-up charges that we were not responsible for,” he said. “That negated the whole claim basically.”

Gracia said that even if the township had ended up owing $200,000, it would have been a small payment for the value of the sewer treatment improvements that were built by the hospital.

“There was $8 million of infrastructure that was put in there. For us to get that work done, the road improvements and infrastructure, we would have had to pay prevailing wages,” Gracia said. “That would have added 20 to 40 percent of the cost ...

“I feel positive about them withdrawing the claim,” he added.

The five-story hospital building was built in 2011 and 2012 and opened on Sept. 29, 2012. In April the hospital announced plans to add 24 medical/surgical beds to an administration office area of the hospital. The conversion project will be finished in January.

“We are very pleased that it turned out this way,” Supervisors' Chairman John Zurzola said. “We remain disturbed by the fact that the previous (supervisors) board agreed to a resolution that the township agreed to pay $500,000 of the road improvements. We are glad that this turned out like this.

“It is all good now. It was very tense for a while there. We just don't have money like that.”